The UK needs teachers at the moment like the transport system needs a good kick up the arse. As a result, there’s rarely been a better time to give teacher training a whirl.

The Government has been offering greater incentives for trainee teachers, especially for postgrads on PGCEs and those doing the subjects that are most needed: (maths, science, IT, D&T, R.E, music and modern languages). 

PGCEs:

To be a teacher you have to have Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and a PGCE is the most popular way of getting it. PGCE stands for Postgraduate Certificate in Education and, as the name suggests, you need to be a graduate to do the course, which covers initial teacher training.

PGCEs are normally a year (or two, if you study part-time. Part-timers are allowed to apply for full-time support).

From September 2006, universities can charge up to £3,145 for them. Students can take out a loan from the Student Loans Company to cover these fees to be paid back once they’ve graduated and are pulling in more than £15,000 a year, just as they can with undergrad courses. They should also be eligible for the same (partly means-tested) loan for living costs.

They also get a bunch of other financial treats of which undergrads can only dream.

• A non-means tested grant of £1,200, plus an additional means-tested grant of £1,500; If your family income is £17,500 a year or less, you will receive the full £2,700. If your family income is between £17,501 and £37,425 a year, you will receive a means-tested portion of the £2,700.
• Teachers of secondary short subjects maths, science, IT, D&T, R.E, music and modern languages all get tax-free  training bursaries of £9,000 (£225 a week). Other subjects get £6,000 and primary teachers £4,000. A training bursary isn't a loan. It’s not even means-tested. It’s just loot. To clarify: it's just loot and you don't have to pay it back. 
• Also, graduates specialising in secondary maths or science can expect a further £5,000 ‘golden hello’ at the end of their first year working as a teacher. Those doing other secondary shortage subjects should get £2,500.

In Wales, the system’s the same except the training bursaries are worth £1,800 less - £7,200 for those doing priority subjects and £4,200 for everyone else. Instead, PGCE students will be eligible for the extra £1,890 fee grant that Welsh undergrads get to make up the difference. They add Welsh to the list of shortage subjects (and therefore the rewards that go with it) and there’s also extra help available for those wanting to teach in Welsh.

Other routes:

You can also get your QTS by doing a (usually four-year) undergraduate course of teacher training that leads to a first degree – normally a BEd. But Push doesn’t recommend it right now as you’ll be liable to pay the normal fee contributions (subject to assessment) and all you’ll get to live on is the normal student loan and means-tested grant. Better to spend three years on any old interesting degree and then do a PGCE afterwards. It doesn’t take any longer and the demand for teachers is such that the Government is unlikely to drop the sweeteners for a while yet.

There are also a couple of employment-based routes, the Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP) and the Registered Teacher Programme (RTP), aimed at older students. Trainees are paid a salary while training – usually around £14,751, depending on the subject, former experience and your responsibilities, a year.

Further info:

First clicks should be the Training and Development Agency for Schools at www.tda.gov.uk and the Graduate Teacher Training Registry at www.gttr.ac.uk. The Teaching Information Line has full details of money available while you’re training: call 0845 6000 991 (the Welsh Language Teaching Information Line is 0845 6000 992).

You can find scintillating stuff about support for Teachers and Trainee Teachers at the following websites: www.teachernet.gov.uk  (the full range of relevant government info and sources) and www.teacherline.org.uk (free and confidential teacher support network for all teachers and trainees in primary and secondary schools in England and Wales).

Details of new training salaries and support for the latest Graduate Teacher Programme are available from the DfES’s Public Enquiry at www.dfes.gov.uk/go4itnow.

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